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Krell, Classe or Bryston?

I recently bought a pair of Magnepan MG 3.6rs and am looking for an amp for them. I would like monoblocks if possible. I recently heard the Classe Cam 350 monoblocks with my speakers and it sounded ok. But I've heard great things about the Bryston with Magnepans and the reputation of the Krells(?) seems intriguing. So what do the Maggie owners(and others) think? Or is there a better choice out there?
128x128sgr
leafs
414 posts
 
Bryston work very well.There is a dealer in town who carries Classe,Bryston Maggies.The Brystons sound best.Krell is a waste of time.Dont waste your time.Overpriced over hyped.And then you will spend thousands on cables to fix their flaws.
kthomas
911 posts
 
The recent Stereophile reviews the Classes you mention (I believe) driving the Maggies you mention with astonishing results - you might be interested in reading the reviewer's experiences.
alberta_steve's avatar
alberta_steve
53 posts
 
I used to own a smaller pair of maggies and have been in love the sound ever since. I plan to own them again and read most web sites with info on them. I have read more than one reviewer talk about the match between Simaudio w3 or w5 and the maggies. Simaudio products/www.simaudio.com/are not a lot of watts but very high current which is of course what maggies like. Simaudio products, like Classe are made in Canada which makes them a good value on your side of the 49th.cheers steve
rgd
656 posts
 
As a follow-up to a fellow Albertan, I too have heard the Sim W-5 and loved it. Was it worth twice the price of my 4BST - not to my ears with my 1.5's. I think as a stand alone amp it would do a nice job on the 3.6's and would give it serious consideration if found used at a good price. It's my opinion that a pair of 7BST monoblocks would provide more current and better control of the planars than the W-5. The Sim might "sound" similar to the Classe as it has been my experience that both are "warmish" in comparison to the Bryston amps. Bryston IMHO offers less of a sonic signature - they just seem to amplify whats provided and therefore may be subject to revealing system flaws and considered to be less forgiving...
7p62mm
97 posts
 
I disagree with Leafs about the quality of sound that you get from a Krell amp. I own both a Bryston 4BST and a Krell KSA 200S. There is no doubt that the Krell has more drive capability for low impedance loads. That said I find that the Bryston 4BST sound as good (not better) with my speakers which are 6 ohm nominal. As far as cost there is no doubt that the Bryston is a much more cost effective approach. That combined with a 20 year fully tranferable warranty makes Bryston a best buy IMHO.
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